What Is The Maze Procedure?

Your heart has four chambers: two upper chambers called atria and two lower chambers called ventricles. As it beats, blood is pushed from the atria into the ventricles, and eventually, out to the rest of your body. Each heartbeat is triggered by an electrical impulse. The impulse is generated by your sinus node, a group of cells that are located within the right atrium. Think of the sinus node as your natural pacemaker. It produces the impulses that keep your heart beating in a uniform manner.

Normally, the electrical current starts at the sinus node and causes your atria to contract. During the contraction, blood is pushed into the ventricles. The current then travels along the atrioventricular node, causing contractions in the ventricles.

There are cases in which the electrical impulses fail to travel properly between the two nodes. They follow an alternative path. When this happens, they can “circle back” and cause your atria to fibrillate. This is a condition known as atrial fibrillation. The Maze procedure is performed in order to control the pathway of the impulses. In doing so, a cardiothoracic surgeon can regulate your heartbeat and resolve atrial fibrillation.

Resolving Atrial Fibrillation

The surgeon controls the path of the electrical current generated by your sinus node by creating scar tissue. The current cannot traverse scars because the scarred tissue cannot conduct electricity.

To create scarring, several carefully planned incisions are made into your left and right atria. The tissue is then immediately sewn back together to create the scars and prevent blood from leaking. The surgeon’s objective is to create a maze through which to guide the impulses from your sinus node to your atrioventricular node through a single unsevered pathway. If this is done successfully, the impulses cannot circle back into the atria and cause them to fibrillate.

Open Chest Versus Minimally Invasive Surgery

The Maze procedure can be accomplished through open chest surgery or through a minimally invasive strategy. Atrial fibrillation has traditionally been addressed through the former approach. The surgical team will stop your heart and cut through your sternum in order to access your atria. This technique, while effective, involves significant risk. Moreover, the recovery time is dramatically longer.

With the tools available today, a surgeon can perform the Maze procedure with minimally invasive techniques. There’s no need to stop your heart or cut through your sternum. Instead, the surgeon can make two small incisions under your ribs and a single incision under your armpit. A camera is inserted through one of the incisions and threaded toward the atria. Other tools are used to create the scar tissue.

Minimally invasive Maze surgery carries far less risk for the patient when compared to open chest surgery. It also reduces the patient’s recovery time. As a result, a growing number of cardiothoracic surgeons are adopting minimally invasive techniques when performing Maze.

Finding the right doctor for Maze procedure is crucial. Find a cardiac surgery specialist.

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on Health
• Commentary » Blog Archive » Why the Universal Health-Care …